SOLUTION BRIEF
Healthcare Solution
Reducing WLAN Management Costs
The mission-critical use of wireless LANs in healthcare settings
requires the highest levels of uptime and uncompromising security.
Most healthcare enterprises today must manage multi-vendor, multigenerational wireless networks as a result of piecemeal incremental
departmental deployments and sequential facilities acquisitions.
Legacy and new wireless networking gear often need to run sideby-side because of multi-year capital equipment purchasing cycles.
Meeting the requirements of high reliability and security can be
challenging with limited IT support staff while maintaining the multiple
generations and variety of vendors’ wireless LANs installed across
the healthcare enterprise. Aruba’s AirWave Wireless Management
Suite (AWMS) is a centralized multi-vendor wireless LAN management
solution that improves hospital network quality while reducing IT costs.
With the AirWave software, hospitals
can easily maintain an enterprisewide network consistent with HIPAA
compliance where the diagnosis and
repair of WLAN connectivity problems
is dramatically reduced and resolution
timeframes are greatly accelerated.
AWMS also eases handling technology
transitions and multi-vendor wireless
LAN installations by extending the life of
existing capital investments.
Use Cases
- Maintaining a uniform configuration/
operating procedure across multiple
vendors’ WLAN: With a single console
for managing the entire WLAN, system
updates and maintenance activities
do not require making duplicate
changes on multiple consoles, thereby
increasing uptime and decreasing IT
resource requirements.
- Automating help desk functions/
reducing time to troubleshoot RF
problems: Aruba’s AWMS includes a
coverage visualization tool, VisualRF,
which allows IT staff to immediately
identify and locate problems anywhere
in the wireless network.
- Managing transition to newer
wireless standards: In order
to transition a hospital’s wireless
infrastructure with no down time, at
least two wireless networks need to be
managed simultaneously. AWMS is
ideally suited for managing the entire
wireless network and assuring its
uptime during the migration.
- Managing multiple remote facilities
centrally: Hospital IT departments can
efficiently maintain consistent security
policies and promptly dispatch uniform
network upgrades throughout the
healthcare enterprise from the hospital’s
main data center using AirWave’s
Wireless Management Suite.
- Security and compliance auditing:
Automatic detection and location of
unauthorized users, rogue access
points, and other threats to the
security of both the wired and wireless
portions of the network are handled
by AirWave’s RAPIDS Module. At the
same time, the compliance auditing
required by HIPAA is performed by the
AirWave Wireless Management Suite
(AWMS) which provides audit logs for
administrative actions for up to two
years, as well as detailed audit trails
and system logging of all activities on
the wireless network.
What Makes Aruba
Different :
- Supports multiple applications
locally such as patient
monitoring connectivity and
EMR access
- Cost effective remote
networking that is end-user
installable and centrally
managed
- Enterprise-grade reliability for
WAN backhaul and local LAN
& WLAN connectivity
- Integrated security capabilities
for regulatory compliance
SOLUTION BRIEF
Healthcare Solution
- Location tracking: Any device
that can access the network can
be accurately located within the
healthcare enterprise using Airwave’s
VisualRF application without the need
for proprietary sensors or location
appliances.
The Airwave Wireless Management
Suite Advantage:
- Multi-Vendor and Multi-Generational:
Installed in the NOC, it is capable of
efficiently managing WLAN elements
from 17 different vendors and all
generations of 802.11 (a/b/g/n).
- Massively Scalable: The AirWave
Wireless Management Suite can handle
over 100,000 nodes and can meet
the needs of the largest right-sized
wireless network edge installations,
while mitigating increases in operating
costs as the number of wireless users
increases
- Integrated Business Continuity and
Disaster Recovery: Failover servers
maintain the manageability required
in mission-critical, high-availability
healthcare environments
- Uniquely Comprehensive
Manageability: AirWave is the
only Wireless Management Suite
that incorporates wireless LAN
management, security auditing, help
desk functionality, and support for
real time location services. AirWave
provides complete visibility and control
of the entire network for all of the IT
staff (including network engineers,
helpdesk staff, IT managers and
security analysts) on a single console
- Detailed Diagnostics: Ensures rapid
problem resolution through remote
trouble shooting and real-time
monitoring with heat maps, and full
help desk integration. The AirWave
Wireless Management Suite also
incorporates automated configuration
management, auditing, and reporting
with the ability to track years of reports,
specialized to document HIPAA
compliance.
The Aruba Airwave Wireless
Management Suite Solution:
The AirWave Wireless Management Suite
is particularly well suited to hospitals
where a WLAN change would be too
resource intensive and where HIPAA
compliance is an issue. The Suite
consists of three components: the
Airwave Management Platform (AMP),
the VisualRF Location and Mapping
Module, and the RAPIDS Rogue
Detection Module. Additionally Aruba
provides the Airwave Master Console
to provide scalability to thousands of
managed devices via a single console,
Failover Server for redundant network
management environments, and
Appliances for customers’ who desire an
integrated solution.
SOLUTION BRIEF
• Unified, Centralized Management: AMP provides real-time monitoring
and trend reporting for every user and
device on the network. It supports
hardware (WiFi, Mesh, WiMAX,
point-to-point, etc.) from 90% of the
enterprise-grade wireless vendors. It
allows hospital IT staffs to control their
hardware lifecycles by allowing them
to manage both current generation and
legacy infrastructures.
• Support for Real-Time Locations
Services: VisualRF provides the
accurate location of every user and
device on the network without the need
for proprietary sensors or ‘location
appliances.’ In addition, VisualRF
provides real-time RF coverage maps
and channel maps, both of which can
be integrated into Google Earth.
• High-Level of Security: The RAPIDS
Module delivers automatic detection
of unauthorized APs and performs
wired scans where there are no
APs or sensors. This is done using
the managed APs to triangulate
the location of rogue devices and
identify the port with which they are
associated.
Healthcare Solution
• High-Level of Availability and Reliability: The Master Console provides a single
console capable of monitoring more
than 100,000 wireless nodes and
works with failover servers to maintain
and manage mission-critical and highavailability healthcare networks.
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